E-mail Error Notifies Carat Staff of Impending Layoffs

ADOTAS – Ah, the innocuous little send button. The twee bearer of bad news not meant for your eyes strikes again. A top HR exec, Rosy Zory, at Aegis Group’s media-buying division of Carat, accidentally sent an email to the entire company (meant for top managers only) detailing a restructuring plan that includes a busload of layoffs, AdAge first reported.

The IT department attempted to retrieve the memo, but the damage was done. The email contained PowerPoint and Word documents that included a script detailing how employees should be terminated and what they should be told (AdAge received a copy of the memo):

“If you would like to go home today and come back tomorrow to clean out your desk or office, you are free to do so. We would like you to meet with your manager following our meeting to transition your work. We will be communicating to your team today. Your manager will be contacting clients. We ask that you do not contact your clients to discuss this situation.”

The leftovers were to receive a pep talk:

“Let them know we are building for the future. The actions we had to take, although unfortunate, were necessary to right-size the company and … bring in the skill sets we need to effectively service our business and future client needs.”

There were also notes on how to handle the press:

“This is a tough one. Since we’re not opting to get out in front of the press, we will be left to defend. I think we may need to prepare for different contingencies depending on how they may hit us — because they will hit us. RISK assessment.”

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